The TOW (Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided) missile system which is tripod mounted on the ground, and an armored personnel carrier, which is self-propelled, are the prior art as far as the inventors are informed. The problem faced by the inventors in this case was to provide a TOW missile system with improved crew protection, so that missiles could be launched from a protected mobile platform (although stationary at the time of firing) when deployed for use in mobile combat, instead of relying on nothing more than a ballistic curtain to protect the crew.
Because crew protection was required, preferably without sacrificing TOW effectiveness, turret-mounted launch tubes were indicated to accomplish the objective in a cost-effective manner, and because turrets are too heavy for expeditious rotation by handpower, power machine drives or systems must of course be employed to accomplish azimuth traversing.
The aforementioned power system is conventionally disposed between the gunner-operator and the tracker which has the disadvantage of diminishing tracking response and hit probability. Even such a disadvantage is acceptable as a trade-off to obtain the advantage of powered means to control and move such a heavy mechanism.
In a device made according to this invention, once the missile is launched, movement of the launch tube has no effect on missile trajectory; during flight, the missile is subject to control by its on-board devices which are an integral part of the overall guidance system. The gunner controls the missile by movement of the optical sighting device through which the target is tracked and the missile is guided to the target. If the sighting device were connected physically with the turret after launch, there could be a degradation of TOW system tracking capability during the critical period of missile flight.
Accordingly, once the missile has left the launch tube, the sight which tracks the target should be free from such encumbrances by disconnection of the azimuth movement of the sight from turret rotation. In such a system, the TOW sight is coupled to the turret as long as the missile is in the launch tube. Thereafter, during flight guidance of the missile, the TOW sight is independent of turret position because firing of the launch mechanism puts in motion a sequence of events to disconnect, mechanically, the turret from the sight device movement and to set a brake which prevents accidental further rotation of the turret.